Stolen Heart
by smokiesgirl
Summary: A loner finds a reason to travel with others.
1. Colony

The mech stood, staring about him. Earlier, he had come upon the wreckage of a small settlement on the frontier- and those who had destryed it. His rage had been great- so great, that none of the raiders had survived.

Now, he stood alone, gazing upon the carnage.

Energon, not all his own, streamed down his frame to mingle with that of the slain marauders.

The mech suddenly felt exhaustion. He slumped to a sitting position, leaning against the crumbling wall of a former habitation, his helm drooping forward.

The tall mech was in recharge before a nano-cycle had passed.

Almost an entire cycle had come and gone before he awoke. A sound, echoing through the wreckage, had called him to wakefullness.

Standing, he moved cautiously torward the noise, a soft scratching, a low, continuous moan.

He moved more quickly now, a wordless anxiety driving him. That sound- it seemed to revrebrate throughout his soul. It begged him to hurry, to save the author of the cry- to get there in time.

Scrambling, the tall mech struggled through the rubble. He slid down a collapsed cellar, to where three walls had collapsed, leaning crazily against each other, sheltering whoever was inside.

Carefully, he dug through the pile, trying to extricate the trapped one, without causing the walls to collapse.

Finally, though, he gave up.

He unstrapped his war hammer from his back, and slammed it into a few key points of the unstable stucture.

The rubble shifted, debris rolling down the sides. He struck again. The hopeless wail intensified, then died out. The mech worked faster, striking it again and again. Finally, he was able to wrench a portion of the slab away.

Strapping his hammer again to his broad back, he looked down on the trapped one.

Rather, trapped ones. Curled up together, the four young ones, scarcely older than sparklings, huddled. They stared up at him, terror in their optics. The oldest, a bulky mech, scooted between the others and their rescuer.

Leaning down, the adult mech scooped the four up easily in his cupped servos, and set them on the ground. The four huddled close to the oldest, still cowering in fear.

The mech looked at them for a moment. He was a warrior, a wanderer, not a father. Still, he could not leave them. With a sigh, he scooped up the young ones, and set out.

For better or for worse, his fate was now tied to theirs.


	2. Identities

The mech kept moving. He ducked below ridges, sticking to the shadows as he strode through the night. He was trying to keep out of the way of Decepticons- the faction that was slowly destroying his world.

The four sparklings seemed to sense his urgency, crouching silently in his chassis. The mech reached into the space often, to reassure himself that they were alive and well. The sight of the sparklings had awakened a feirce desire to protect within him, a desire to destroy any and all who dared offer them harm.

He stopped only when the light returned, to avoid exposing them. He found a small idention in the ground, which he took full advantage of. He lay flat, allowing the sparklings to crawl out of his chassis, and curl up on his broad chest.

"What could your names be?" The mech mused.

The oldest sat up, looking at their rescuer. "Name?" He squeaked.

The mech smiled, ever so slightly.

The sparkling considered for a moment, then his optics lit up. " 'Burst!" He squealed. "Cl-clo-cloud- Cloudburst." He looked up innocently at their saviour.

"Cloudburst." The older mech mused thoughtfully. "What are the others called, little one?"

The babe stared at for a moment, then curled beside the smallest- a femme.

The mech looked to the remaining two, a mech and a femme, obviously twins. "All right- what are your names?"

They blinked at him for a nanocycle, before the femme spoke. " 'Dai. Dekka."

He frowned. "Dai and Dekka?" The little one scowled. "Not Dai. Ah-dai!"

The mech stifled a smile. "Your name is... Adai?" She nodded fiercely. " 'Dai!"

"And what about her? What is her name?" He nodded toward the tiny femme, sleeping beside Cloudburst. Adai shrugged. "Don' know. She not talk."

Losing intrest, the femme and her twin went into recharge. The mech lay back. Perhaps when Cloudburst awoke, he could solve the problem of the femme's identity.

The mech awoke when darkness had fallen. He felt about for the young ones- and to his horror, discovered they were gone. Frantically, he searched, calling for them. Through the night he searched, terrified for their safety.

Moring broke, and still no sign of the young ones. The mech could barely restrain himself from screaming their names aloud. Where could four young ones disappear to?


	3. Searching

The mech continued searching throughout the next day.

With still no sign of the sparklings, he headed on his way, hoping to stumble across them.

Several cycles later, he came across signs of a large group passing through. He followed it, knowing that, eventually, he would catch up with them.

Perhaps they had seen his younglings.

Late into the night, he stopped for rest. He took a cube of low grade from subspace and downed it, considering.

Why was he so set on retrieving the young ones? Why could he not accept that they were probably forever lost, and move on? If they had fallen in with the group, would they not be well taken care of?

No!

He slammed his Energon into the ground in sudden fury. They were HIS responsibility, HIS young ones.

With new purpose, he moved on.

Morning came, and with it, a change. As he clambered up an abandoned building for a better view, he noticed a smudge on the horizon.

The mech rerouted power from all functions except motor and vital to his optics, magnifying the smudge as best he could.

As far as he could tell, the smudge was several large buildings. Sliding off the roof, he headed towards the cluster of shelters.

Perhaps there he could find his young ones.


End file.
